Grayson County TXGenWeb

On April 1, 1978, the qualified voters in Luella voted to incorporate. The first City Officials were: J. C. Rich, mayor; aldermen - Margie Morse, Patti Madison; William Kincaid, Jerry Smith, Elton Bentley; Charles Bruton, marshal. Luella now has city limits.

The village of Luella was founded by J. L. Hughes which is located about six miles southeast of Sherman on Texas State Highway 11. Mr. Hughes purchased a location from J. L. Dickson on January 3, 1888 and established a general store. He had been a merchant in Sherman in 1885. Mr. Hughes was a farmer, miller, ginner and merchant. He named the village after his eldest daughter, Luella Hughes.

When a post office was established at Luella, Mr. Hughes was the first Post Master. He was also named the Station agent for the new railroad being contructed from Sherman to Commerce - the St. Louis Southwestern Railroad. In addition to his many occupations, J. L. Hughes was an ordained minister of the Old School Baptist Church.

in the 1890's, there was established a public school, cotton gin, cotton and grain market, two general merchandise stores,
a doctor's office and drug store and a blacksmith shop. There was also a government licensed distillery where whiskey was made and a saloon established to sell the whiskey which was a white corn liquor. It was named "White Mule" because of it's "kick". The distillery and saloon were short lived.

When the automobile and good roads arrived in the early 1900's, Luella was unable to compete with larger trade centers and lost most of it's businesses. The St. Louis Southwestern Railroad Company had ceased operating trains over it's route from Sherman to Commerce in 1953. With the right-of-way abandoned, on December 17, 1953, Grayson, Hunt and Fannin Counties purchased the right-of-way in their respective counties. The State of Texas constructed the State FM 1281 which later was designated as State Hwy. 11.

By the late 1970's, Luella had become mainly a residential area with the residents being emplooyed in cities located around the village.